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Topic: Should I wait to mail Will Shortz another puzzle? (Read 2524 times)

So I finished constructing another puzzle, a Sunday-sized one, but I'm still waiting on a reply from the NYT about one I mailed last week. Obviously, it might take a while before they get back to me about that one.

Dumb question, but I'm just wondering if it's a good idea to send Will Shortz a second puzzle while I wait for a response on the first. Is there any reason to think that Shortz doesn't want constructors to send him more than one puzzle at a time?

In my opinion, if you have not yet had a puzzle published, wait for a response on the one you have already sent. There may be significant problems with the puzzle, which Will will point out. It's best to know where you need to improve before sending more puzzles. You may very well have to revise the puzzle you just finished, based on the feedback you receive.

That's true. There probably are areas where I could improve for both puzzles. But I figured that if either puzzle isn't good enough to be published, then I'd have to revise them anyway and Will can tell me as much; but if the first puzzle does get published, then great, but I've waited a pretty long time to send him another one. I guess I'm wondering if I have anything to lose by sending Will the second puzzle (for example, would he reject the second puzzle outright, no matter how good it is, simply because I'm a new constructor and he hasn't reviewed the first one yet).

I'm an impatient sort, I know. I just wanted to find out if Shortz has a rule that new constructors should only send one puzzle at a time.

Surprised no one else has answered your question. I'm still kinda new to this, but I can now speak more authoritatively than I could even yesterday. Because today I got my second "no, thanks" from Will. This was for a puzzle I submitted in mid-November...which is to say, two and a half months ago. My first "no, thanks" was for a puzzle I'd submitted one month later. So if Will had a problem with multiple submissions at once, I'm sure he would have told me.

By the way, I have 4 more puzzles I sent since then, including one just a few days ago. So I, for one, was operating under the belief that multiple submissions were fine.

Even the first one took a month for him to respond, which I am led to believe is on the quick side. So I wouldn't yet worry after just one week.

Also Todd, would you care to send any of those rejected puzzles my way? I'd be happy to try 'em. Although if you're still trying to get them published in other outlets and don't want them to leak out, I'll understand that too.